By: Mike Fruciano, Founder of Effective Presentations
I’ve watched some version of this scene more times than I can count. A smart, prepared employee stands up to present a recommendation they believe in. They know the material better than anyone in the room. Five minutes in, the most senior person at the table is checking email.
Afterward, the manager usually says the same thing. “She just needs more confidence.”
That diagnosis often misses the real problem. Without identifying what the person needs to improve, the advice that follows is unlikely to help.
Look for the skills behind the confidence problem
When a presentation falls flat, nervousness is the easiest thing to point at. You can see it. The speaker rushes, avoids eye contact, and reads from the slides.
In our presentation skills training, we often see nerves alongside skills the person has never been taught. A presenter who struggles to hold eye contact or deliver a recommendation clearly has something specific to work on. Telling that person to be more confident is like telling a new golfer to relax. It doesn’t fix the swing.
After more than 20 years of training presenters, I see the same handful of problems over and over.
The point comes last. Technical and analytical presenters sometimes organize a presentation in the order they did the work: background, method, findings, and finally the recommendation. In a decision-making meeting, leaders usually need the recommendation early, followed by the evidence. If the ask doesn’t appear until slide 14, listeners may spend the first 13 wondering why the details matter.
The slides are doing the talking. When the slide holds every word, the presenter turns into a narrator. The audience reads ahead, and the speaker becomes optional.
Nobody has told them what they look like. Most people have never seen themselves present. They don’t know they sway, or never pause, or end every sentence like a question. You can’t fix a habit you don’t know you have.
Why the usual fixes don’t stick
A motivational session or a list of presentation tips may give someone a useful starting point. But neither provides much opportunity to practice the behavior that needs to change.
Motivation fades by the next Monday. Tips are easy to agree with and hard to apply under pressure, because reading about eye contact is nothing like holding it while a vice president frowns at your budget slide.
The approach I’ve found most useful is straightforward: present, get specific feedback, make one adjustment, and present again. Video helps people compare what they felt with what the audience actually saw. They can watch the next attempt and judge whether the adjustment helped.
In my experience, confidence often grows as people gain skills and see evidence of their own progress.
Three things a leader can do this quarter
You don’t need a training budget to start fixing this on your team.
Ask for the recommendation early. Before the next decision-making presentation, ask the presenter to explain what they recommend and why it matters within the first sixty seconds. That gives the audience a reason to listen to the supporting details.
Give feedback people can use. “Great job” teaches nothing, and so does “be more engaging.” Try “you lost me when you read the third slide word for word” or “your pause before the numbers made them land.”
Let people practice before the stakes are high. If someone has a board presentation in two weeks, arrange a dry run with a small audience now. A short rehearsal with specific feedback can reveal problems that another hour of slide editing won’t.
It’s the same principle behind the presentation skills training we run at Effective Presentations. People practice in a small group, get individual coaching, adjust, and present again. The improvement comes from repetition with feedback, not from a pep talk.
The people on your team who struggle in front of a room may have valuable ideas that aren’t getting heard. Identify the specific skills they need, give them a chance to practice, and offer feedback they can use. That gives them a practical path to becoming more effective presenters.
Mike Fruciano founded Effective Presentations in 2004. Based in Lakewood, Colorado, the company has trained more than 100,000 professionals through workshops, individual coaching, and corporate training across the United States. Before founding the company, he served as National Sales Director for an insurance company and later for the Zig Ziglar Performance Group.
